Deduce Me
by bhfirewife
Summary: After the fall. Molly has a new boyfriend. Can Sherlock keep her from getting hurt by yet another man? Disclaimer, I own nothing of the Sherlock universe. And thank you to JustYourAverageWhovian for Betaing for me.
1. Chapter 1

Molly was not normally a vindictive person, nor one that would wish harm upon anyone, but she took a perverse pleasure in performing the autopsy of one James Moriarty, herself.

It would seem that D.I. Greg Lestrade took the same pleasure in watching as she did her work on the same Moriarty.

They were both glad that the man responsible for the downfall of their friend, Sherlock Holmes, was now dead. Even if Molly was the only one that knew that the world's only consulting detective wasn't really dead, but was hiding while working towards disabling Moriarty's gang, to protect his friends. Sherlock had explained after his body had been whisked into the morgue, how Moriarty had placed people to watch John, Mrs. Hudson, and Lestrade, and that their lives had been in danger if he had not actually gone through with killing himself even after Moriarty had committed suicide.

A few months after Sherlock's apparent suicide, Molly met Wallace Williams. Molly couldn't believe her luck in meeting such a man that was interested on dating her. A month later they were seeing each other almost everyday, and on the days that they couldn't get together, they would talk on the phone.

Two weeks ago, Sherlock had returned from the dead, and Sherlock, John, and Lestrade picked up their friendship, almost where it left off, with the addition of Molly to the group, well once the doctor and the policeman got their anger about Sherlock's keeping his death secret from them (which didn't really take them very long once they heard the whole story).

Greg and John had already met Wallace and they seemed to like the man, as far as she could tell, they haven't said anything negative about him to her at any rate. Molly was dreading the time when Wallace would meet Sherlock.

She knew that the consulting detective would pick apart everything that he saw about her boyfriend, and he would tell her the good and the bad…especially the bad. John told her once that he told her these things about the other men in her life to try to save her pain later, that in his own strange way, he was trying to help her. She had to admit that with a few of the boyfriends that he had shed a not so nice light on, she would have been more hurt if things had gone on longer, and then found out that she had been lied to through other means. And by a few, she means all.

A couple of days later, Wallace ends up standing her up one too many times, in Sherlock's eyes. Sherlock looks to John when they see Molly sitting in the lab, tears starting to fill her eyes. They both could tell that she had just gotten off the phone with Wallace and even John could see that the man had called off another date with Molly. Third in about a week.

Sherlock raised an eyebrow at John, questioningly. John nodded his head, held a hand out indicating Molly, and said, "Go ahead."

Sherlock then begins his 'rant' as he deduces Wallace. "Molly, Wallace is not as he seems to be," Sherlock began, and Molly instantly regretted having introduced the two men the day before.

"Wallace has only been pretending to be the man that you think he is. He has not been as committed to you as you think he has led you to believe. When he came into your office the other day, he had some hairs on his shoulder that in ho way was a match to your's. Too long, and too blonde. Also, there was a smear of lipstick just inside the edge of pink, and one that I highly doubt you would wea…"

Sherlock didn't get a chance to finish his observations from the shock of feeling Molly's hand slapping him across the face.

"HOW DARE YOU?! Is there something wrong with me being happy with my life?! Every time I start to feel everything start to fall into place in my personal life, you start to say those awful things again and ruin it for me! Not this time Mr. Sherlock Holmes! I will NOT let you RUIN this for me!"

Then the small pathologist turned on John, "And you! How could you let him say those things?!"

"Molly," Sherlock started, and when she spun around to look at him, anger still flaring in her eyes, he flinched, half expecting her to slap him again. "Molly, I DO want you to happy, buy in the long run, Mr. Wallace Williams will not be the one to make you happy. As well as in the short term it would seem by the tears that were in your eyes when we entered. He will only continue to hurt you."

"I DON'T BELIEVE YOU!" Molly yelled, tears rolling down her cheeks. Then something occurred to her, "Why did you wait? Why didn't you say something when you met him the other day?"

Sherlock, gently gripped her upper arm with one hand, and used his other to brush away the tears, from one eye with the back of his fingers, and from the other with his thumb. Then he gripped her other arm as well, to keep her in place before him. "Molly, I did not say anything then, because I could not properly deduce that the hair and the lipstick pointed directly towards him seeing another woman, it could also have been a family member, so I said nothing, until I learned more. I could see that you were happy with him, and like I said, I wish you to be happy."

"Then what told you they were the signs of there being another woman?" Molly asked after a few moments, having been taken back at the emotions in Sherlock's eyes.

John then explained that they passed Wallace leaving the hospital the day before, and how they heard him on his mobile phone, about having a few girls being strung along, or at least that was what John had thought he had heard, but he hadn't been totally sure. When he turned to ask Sherlock about it, he was gone. I had barely finished turning around and continuing into the entrance when I received a text from Sherlock to say nothing to you, if I saw you while I was inside, visiting Mary."

Molly narrowed her eyes and looked at Sherlock. "What happened, Sherlock?"

"Obviously I confronted the man."


	2. Chapter 2

***Flashback***

Sherlock could not believe what he had heard from Molly's boyfriend, though it was obvious that Wallace had either not seen them, or did not care if they overheard what he said.

Sherlock quickly turned around and re-entered the crowd walking on the sidewalk, following Wallace Williams. As he did, he pulled out his mobile and quickly sent John a text, 'Say NOTHING to Molly, if you see her! -SH'

Sherlock walked behind him for a couple of blocks, gaining on him fairly quickly. As soon as they came to the mouth of a darkened alley (even at that time of the early afternoon), Sherlock grabbed the back of Wallace's coat and pushed him forcefully into the alley.

"What the HELL, mate!" Wallace yelled, as Sherlock pushed him into the alley. Spinning around, Wallace saw who it was that was man-handling him. "Oh it's you. Molly's friend."

"And you are supposed to be her…boyfriend," Sherlock said, almost spitting out the last word.

"Supposed to be? I AM he boyfriend."

"From what I just witnessed, I find myself having trouble believing that."

"What you just witnessed?"

"I heard you on your mobile as you were leaving St. Bart's. Do you really expect me to believe that you see Molly as your girlfriend?"

"Oh, she is ONE of my girlfriends."

"I surmised as much. What you said, is that how you really feel about women? That they are only there to give you pleasure? Or is that just simple bragging to your mates?"

"Isn't really any of your business, either way."

"Start treating Molly Hooper with more respect, or I will tell her about what you really are!"

"Do you really expect me to believe that she would believe that you would have to say? I have heard about the way that you have treated her in the past! Why would she believe what you say when I have been such an attentive boyfriend?" Wallace said, laughing.

"Because I have never lied to her."

***End Flashback***

Sherlock turned back to Molly from where he had moved to across the room when he had been telling her about his talk with Wallace. "Molly, I know that I have said some things in the past that have hurt you, but I DO hope that you do know that I have NEVER lied to you."

"Yes, Sherlock, I know. Thank you," Molly said. "I am sorry for reacting the way that I did."

Sherlock smirked, and said, "Already forgotten."

Before anyone else could say anything else, Sherlock's phone rang. Looking at the caller ID, he saw that it was Lestrade and knew the man must have another case that he needed Sherlock's help with. "It's Lestrade," he said, before answering the device.

Molly felt slightly let down, but she knew that he had to go. He had to help. He had to stop whatever criminal that he stumped Lestrade before they could strike again, before anyone else could get hurt.

Looking at Sherlock, she could see that he was torn, not something that she was used to ever seeing on his face, and she realized that she needed some time on her own without Sherlock, and definitely with Wallace. She needed to put some serious thought into the things she learned that day.

"Go," she said. She knew that he would be able to tell that she needed some time on her own.

Sherlock grinned his thanks. "We will be right there," he said just before he hung up. He looked at John, "Dead body Lestrade would like us to have a look at. It would seem that there is something odd about the weapon that was used, and it has our dear Detective Inspector and the rest of them baffled."

"Alright," John said, turning to leave. "See you once this is all worked out," he said to Molly as he opened the door.

"Bye John," molly replied. "Sherlock," she said as she nodded farewell to him as he passed her on his way across the room.

At the door, Sherlock turned to her and looked like he wanted to say something to her; but instead, he turned to the door and exited the room.

Molly went to her office, gathered her belonging, and went home for the evening.

After a restless night, of little sleep, she had made up her mind. She grabbed her phone and called Wallace, and told him that she didn't think things were going working out between them and that she was breaking it off with him.


	3. Chapter 3

Wallace did not take too kindly to Molly's breaking up with him. Later that morning he made his way to her apartment, feinting a man brokenhearted, confused that she had broken up with him without really giving him a reason.

"Molly, Dear, I thought everything was going so well, what happened?"

"I took some time to think about us, and I do not feel the same way. Perhaps one of your other girlfriends can help you feel better. I am sure that they all will be happier that you will have more time to spend with each of them."

"Molly, what are you talking about?" Wallace asked.

"I know that I am not the only one that you were calling girlfriend, Wallace. Did you really think that I would stand for it? I am not so naive as to believe that you could possibly truly love me if you were seeing someone else at the same time?"

"I still don't understand what you are talking about. Molly, ever since you and I have been dating, there has only ever been you!"

Molly released a cold laugh. "Really Wallace? I somehow am finding that unbelievable. How many girlfriends are there? Actually, never mind, I don't really want to know!"

"Molly, wha…," Wallace started to say, and then realization struck him. "Ah, so he told you. And you believed him? That man has done little but hurt you! How can you believe what he tells you?"

"Sherlock may have said things that have hurt me in the past, and he will more than likely will do so in the future, but he has NEVER lied to me, about anything."

"From what I have heard about him, how would you know for sure? What makes you think that he hasn't lied to you, and never thought anything more of it, as if it never even mattered to him?"

"We are friends! I trust him!"

"But does he trust you?"

Molly didn't even have to think about her answer. "More than you will ever know!" If Sherlock didn't trust her completely, he never would have asked her to help him fake his death.

A dark look crossed Wallace's features. "Are you sure that you want to break things off with me?"

"I already told you that I will not put up with you dating someone else, let alone more than one, as you date me. And I very much get the impression that you will not stop your ways for me, or else you would have done so already. So, yeah, I am sure that I want to end things."

"BITCH!" Wallace shouted, as he backhanded her across the face, not with enough force to break bones, but more than enough to knock her off balance so that she fell to the floor.

Wallace stood over her, "So, Molly, I will ask once more are you sure that you want to break things off with me? Believe me; things will be so much better for you if you don't."

Molly quickly lifted her leg and pushed her foot straight into Wallace's groin. The man doubled over in pain.

Molly to the opportunity to scramble to her feet, and put some distance between herself and Wallace. He was between her and the front door, so Molly ran to the one room in her flat that had a lock on the door, the bathroom.

Glad she had it in her jeans pocket; Molly pulled out her mobile and called the first contact she came to in her list that would be the most help to her right now, Greg Lestrade.

"Lestrade!"

"Greg! I know that you are on a case, but Wallace is in my flat, and he has hit me," she managed to say through the fear and the tears that were both trying to surface.

"What?! Get out of there Molly!"

"I can't. He was between me and the door. I managed to lock myself in the loo." Molly jumped when Wallace started banging at the door. "He's trying to get in!"

"We were not too far away, and are almost there! Just try to keep calm!"

Wallace started to throw himself at the door, knowing that it would give rather quickly. Thinking fast, Molly opened the window, and pulled out the screen. Then she hid in the bathtub, careful to close the shower curtain as quietly as she could.

Just as the door began to give, she heard her front door open. Then there were the sounds of a struggle coming through the closed door, and then there was the sound of a gun going off. Molly covered her mouth to muffle her scream. She did not know who was outside the door, she did know however, she was in more danger now, they had a gun after all.

There was a few moments of silence, and then she heard footsteps near the bathroom door once more. She cowered further back into the tub, as the doorknob was tried. She had to stifle another scream when the person at the door threw their weight against the door and it burst open.


	4. Chapter 4

She was shaking terribly, huddled tight against the far end of the tub, hiding her head, when the curtain was pulled back.

"Molly!" she heard a voice croak, a voice that was semi-familiar. "Molly, it's me! You're safe, it's alright!"

She looked up and saw Sherlock kneeling beside the tub, a pistol held in one hand, pointed at the floor. She launched herself at him the best she could, given their positions. He caught her, dropping the gun, and held her to him in a tight hug, knowing that she needed the comfort as much as he did.

"Its okay, Molly, I have you," Sherlock croaked softly, rubbing her back as she cried into his chest.

A moment later, Lestrade's frame filled the doorway. "She alright?" he asked, worried about his friend.

Sherlock looked at him. "She has some bruising on her cheek, and she is understandably shaken," he said, straining his voice to make sure the other man heard him.

Lestrade leaned back, and looked back down the hallway. "John, she's in here! You should perhaps take a look at her!" he called. He stepped back long enough for John to enter the room.

"Greg, get a couple of glasses of cold water for these two," John said as he entered, after looking over the pair in front of him.

"I am fine!" Sherlock, once again, croaked.

"Sherlock, you have bruises forming on your neck, he must have damned near choked you out! You are taking the time to have a drink of water!" John said as he knelt beside his friends.

"Molly? Look at me, Molly. I want to make sure that you are okay, alright? Just let me have a look-see."

It took her a few seconds, but Molly pulled away from Sherlock and lifted her face to look at the doctor. She saw him cringe slightly, but it was only a fleeting expression that he quickly covered with a mask of professionalism.

After a quick exam, John proclaimed Molly unharmed, aside from the bruise forming on the side of her face, and a split lip, both from the hit to the face she took.

Lestrade entered the bathroom again with the two glasses of water and some ice wrapped in a tea towel, and handed the ice and one of the glasses to Sherlock, and the other glass to Molly.

Once Molly drank the water, Sherlock gently held the ice pack to her face, to help stop anymore swelling from forming. She looked up into his face. "What happened to Wallace?"

"Dead," Sherlock said, his throat still sounding sore.

"About that," Lestrade said, and then cleared his throat, "I am going to have to take statements from both of you about what happened, and call in a team to verify." At the look he got from Sherlock, he added, "I have to do this by the books Sherlock. We all know that his death was self defense, especially given the marks on your neck and her face. But unless there is documentation, it could easily turn into a murder charge, for either or both of you. I already called in a forensics team, Anderson is on his way with his people."

"Before you complain, Sherlock, Anderson was happy to come even knowing that you were involved. He was concerned for Molly."

Sherlock looked at Molly questioningly. She blushed slightly and said, "We've known each other since college. His wife was my roommate in the dorm my last to years. While we were never overly close, we have always been friends."

This information was new to Sherlock. He realized though that he had never witnessed Molly and Anderson together in any kind of situation to be able to see how they acted together. He filed the information with all the other tidbits of information he had about Molly in his mind Palace. Alarmed at how much he refused to 'delete' about her.

Molly told them about happened first. The men all listened silently, Lestrade making notes in his notebook. Listening to Molly's tale, Sherlock felt an emotion well up inside of him. This one he recognized. It was rage. He felt a need for further revenge. If he had the ability, he would have brought Wallace Williams back to life, just so he could kill him again. Slower, and more painfully instead of the instant death he got because of the fatal gunshot the man received when they had been fighting for the gun.

Once Molly was finished, Lestrade asked a couple of questions to clear up a few points that were still foggy to him.

"Why didn't you just go out of the window?" was the first question.

"She can't jump high enough to be able to," Sherlock said, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"He knew Sherlock knew about his having multiple girlfriends?" Lestrade asked. "How?"

"Sherlock and I heard him talking on his mobile, saying along those lines the other day as he was leaving Bart's and we were entering," John said, answering the question.

"And?" Lestrade said, knowing that there was more to it than just that, with this pair involved.

"John went into the hospital, and I confronted Mr. Williams," Sherlock stated.

"What happened?"

Sherlock told Lestrade about the confrontation with the dead man.

"That's it? It didn't come to blows? You two just had words?"

"Yup. That's it."

"When did you see him next after that?"

"Today, here, not too long before you entered the flat."

"What happened from the time you left us?"

"Once you answered your mobile and I heard Molly say that Wallace had attacked her, I cam straight here."

"Using your profound knowledge of London's streets, you got here first because there are areas that even a police car cannot access," John said, so Molly and Lestrade would understand.

"Precisely! When I arrived at the door, it was unlocked. I entered and found Mr. Williams trying to breakdown the door to the bathroom. He saw me, and came towards me, drawing his pistol as he came down the hallway, aiming it at me. I rushed him before he could aim properly. We fought for control of the gun. It went off while in both our hands. I then, after examining the bathroom door, broke it down. Once inside, I looked around and, correctly, deduced that Molly was hiding in the bathtub, and revealed my presence to her. A few minutes later, you entered the flat."

Lestrade finished making his notes, reminding them both that they would have to go down to Scotland Yard the next day to officially give their statements.

They nodded their understanding.

Before anything else could be said by anybody, there came the voice of Molly's friend, John's girlfriend, Mary. "Molly? What's with the police car outside? Do you know…OH MY GOD! Molly? MOLLY! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!"

John left the bathroom and went to comfort the woman and assure her that their friend was safe and relatively unharmed.

Mary's voice seemed to affect Sherlock like a slap to the face of a hysterical person. Gone was the man that was overtly concerned about Molly and he was back to his closed off unsentimental-self. Then without a word to anyone, he left the flat.

The sudden change in the consulting detective surprised Molly. She thought that maybe Sherlock was starting to see her in the same light as he saw John. While only being his friend would slowly kill her because of her true feelings for him, she would take what she could get, and look elsewhere for everything else.


	5. Chapter 5

Sherlock did not know what had come over him. He had not been that concerned for anybody since he found out that Lestrade, Mrs. Hudson, and John were in danger, the time he 'died' for them.

The rage and fear that he had felt then were so strong that he had never thought it could be equaled.

The rage he felt towards Wallace Williams for hitting and scaring Molly Hooper surpassed the former benchmark tenfold. The fear that he had felt when he had learned of her danger was tenfold what he had previously felt as well.

What did that mean?

How could danger to one person cause more rage and fear then danger to three?

Did that mean that Molly Hooper meant more to him than the others did, combined?

Determined to work out this mystery within himself, he locked himself away in his bedroom and studied everything relevant in his Mind Palace.

SHMHSHMHSHMH

Three days. It had been three days since John last saw Sherlock, for more than a few seconds. He knew that the other man had locked himself away in his room, only coming out to go to the bathroom or get drinks of water. While Sherlock did not always eat as he should, John noticed that nature's calls were not something that he ignored. John also knew (and was relieved) that Sherlock would not allow himself to become dehydrated. Again. Last time the detective learnt how much the lack of fluids slowed his brain down, and he did not enjoy it one bit.

The first time that Sherlock had emerged from his room, John followed closely behind him when he re-entered the chamber.

"Mind Palace, John," Sherlock had said with a sigh. "Out!"

"Alright, Sherlock. But I thought I would let you know that Lestrade is still waiting for you to go down and make your statement official. He said he would be there until seven tonight."

Sherlock grunted in reply.

"Also, I thought I would let you know that Molly is staying at Mary's until Lestrade's people are done, and there has been a cleaning crew in to clean up behind them."

"Hmm. Yes, thank you," Sherlock said, practically pushing John out of the room, and closing the door behind his friend. He stored what his friend had said with all his other information about Molly.

John was growing worried about his friend. The only times that Sherlock was this distracted was when they were on a case. John didn't think that was what was going on because Sherlock would have told him. What was going on with his friend?

SHMHSHMHSHMH

Molly was growing even more confused than John was. She had not seen or heard from Sherlock since he had left her flat, four days ago now. She did not know what was going on with the man.

She had taken a few days off from work so that she could heal physically, mentally and emotionally. She had just returned to her own flat from Mary's and the next day, she was to return back to work. She was not looking forward to the looks she would get, and the questions she knew her co-workers would most likely ask her.

She had seen John at Mary's a couple of times when she had been staying there after the attack. He had told her that Sherlock had locked himself in his bedroom, saying that he was in his Mind Palace since the day Wallace attacked her.

What could be keeping the man locked away like that? What was he thinking about that kept him away for the longest time that anyone that currently knew him could recall?


	6. Chapter 6

Lestrade was surprised when five days after the attack on Molly, Sherlock finally showed up to officially give his statement about what happened. John had told the policeman that Sherlock had been locked in his room, in his mind Palace, but that he did not know how long it would last.

If it had been any other person, he would have doubted the man's memory, but he knew Sherlock deemed Molly worthy enough to not 'delete' the information from his mind.

The policeman had seen how his friend had been with the woman. He could not have thought the other man capable of such tenderness with anybody if he had not seen it himself.

SHMHSHMHSHMH

Molly had just finished a post mortem on an elderly man that had died in another hospital under suspicious circumstances. She was in the lab testing the samples that she had taken during the exam.

The door to the lab swung open as Sherlock entered, with John following. "Molly!" he said, "Just the person I was looking for!"

Turning to look at the two men, Molly smiled slightly in greeting, "Sherlock! John! Hello, how have you been? What brings you here today? New case?"

"Not today," the detective said, "I wanted to see how you were doing."

Molly looked at him in surprise, and was shocked at the tenderness showing in the man's eyes. "Sherlock?" she said quietly, almost a whisper.

"I am sure that John has already told you that I have spent the last five days going through my Mind Palace."

Molly just nodded in reply.

"Would you like to know what I was thinking about?"

"Only if you wish to share it," she replied, hoping that he would sate her curiosity.

"You," he said in the same deep tone that he used the night before his 'fall'.

"What?" she said, wondering why the great Sherlock Holmes would spend five days thinking about her.

"You caused a mystery within my own psyche," he said as he took a small step towards her.

"How?" she asked, taking an unconscious step towards him.

He closed the distance between them until they were just an arm length apart, as he spoke. "When Wallace attacked you, rather, when I learned about it, and when I saw how he had hurt you, I felt things that I had not felt for some time. I felt them STRONGER then I had EVER felt anything. I was scared because you were in danger and there was nothing I could do to protect you right then. I was angry at Wallace when I saw that he had hurt you. Even now, I find myself angry that he had hurt you."

Molly ducked her chin to try to hide the evidence of the attack from him, and some of the sadness that was starting to fill her eyes. "Least I know, now, that I mean the same to you as John does."

"You don't mean the same to me as John," Sherlock simply stated.

He got the desired reaction, she looked into his eyes once more. However he had not been counting on the hurt and tears that was forming in hers.

He decided to try again. "What I feel for you is so much different than what I feel for john. So much stronger," he said as he leaned in, kissing her gently on the lips, pulling back after just a few short moments.

Confusion began to fill Molly once more. "Wh…What are you saying, Sherlock?"

"You have worked beside me enough to know my methods. Deduce me, Dr. Hooper." he said.

Molly flicked her eyes over his face, trying to hear him as he did everyone else. When she reached his eyes, she saw the love and tenderness that he was trying to show her. Then she recalled not only the words he had been saying, but the tone behind them as well.

She realized that he was doing his best to tell her of his feelings for her, he knew of no way to properly express his emotions with words, so he was doing his best to do so with his actions.

Smirking, Molly stepped closer to him so that they were almost touching. "Mr. Holmes, did you say to deduce you, or to SEDUCE you?" she said, letting her love for him fully shine in her eyes for him to see as well.

"Same thing, really." John muttered as their lips met.

He left the room to go find his own girlfriend, and give her the news about their mutual friends.


End file.
